Bicycle Design

Rating:
Summary: Superficial and disappointing
Review: I have a number of problems with this book. The most immediate is that the author, who is a high-school drop-out and unabashedly admits that he doesn't even know algebra, repeatedly refers to himself as an engineer. Those of us who worked hard and long for our engineering credentials don't appreciate this. Would he call himself a physician because he can bandage a cut finger?

The book shows the limitations of a nontechnical person addressing a technical subject. The author's lack of a quantitative understanding of his subject is palpable. For example, while he skewers some bicyling myths that badly needed skewering, he buys into others that are just as bad, such as the myth of the "whippy" frame. Another is the incessant focus on aerodynamics. The author has gone to great lengths to design aerodynamic bikes, while not really appreciating how little improvement really can be obtained, and how much wind resistance is from the rider, and thus irreducible. I would like to have seen a discussion of this, but it seems to be beyond him. Finally, his treatment of rolling resistance is embarassing; he recommends tests that have large errors and don't produce quantitative results.

If you want to start understanding how bikes work, a much better book is Bicycling Science by Whitt and Wilson. However, you will have to know a little algebra to understand it.

Rating:
Summary: An essential beginning
Review: I have been scouring the world for books on the technical background of bicycles. There are very technical ones that are slow reading, and usually are restrictive in scope. There are coffee table ones that are very shallow, but nice to look at. And then there is this one.

I can't find anything bad to say about this book, except that Mike Burrows stopped before the series was finished. This is a superb, and eminently readable, introduction to the technical basis of bicycles. One always has to make the decision about how much stock to put in an author's opinions, but considering this author's background, that decision is fairly easy.

Mr. Burrows - if you read this, PLEASE write more, with additional depth, on almost anything you want to related to the technology of the bicycle!

Rating:
Summary: A valuable work
Review: I would like to respond to the reviewer from Long Beach. Burrows' statement about his lack of knowledge of algebra is probably tongue-in-cheek. His original occupation was designer of packaging machinery, which I would imagine requires an engineering degree. More importantly, Burrows is an intuitive designer; one need only look at the Windcheetah recumbent tricycle to see a design that was unprecedented at the time, yet both useful and beautiful. Burrows brought radical innovation to the world of racing bicycle design, and is a voice of sanity in the recumbent world, a field with more than its share of crackpots and ignoramuses.

If you are looking for engineering information, consult Whitt and Wilson, or indeed Archibald Sharp, to whom Burrows refers repeatedly. This book is more an overview for the lay reader rather than the professional designer. That being said, Burrows' explanations of why certain ideas won't work is clear and accessible, and wouldn't cause any harm if consulted by engineers long on theory but short on common sense.

Rating:
Summary: A valuable work
Review: Mike Burrows has been involved in innovative bicycle design for many years. This book reflects his interests in a diversity of human powered land vehicles, including road bikes, mountain bikes, city bikes, recumbents and tricycles.

The book covers some of the major problems of bicycle design, including aerodynamics, rolling resistance, and the strength and stiffness of materials used to make bike frames. The book is not a comprehensive, evenhanded guide to all of the issues involved. Instead, it gives the fresh perspective of an iconoclastic designer.

Burrows likes (for specific uses) disc wheels, monobladed "forks" (like Cannondale's Lefty shock), recumbents, non-standard frame geometry, disc brakes, hub brakes and composite construction. He refers to tires as "annular pneumatic suspension". He dislikes bogus "aerodynamic" frame tubes, bladed carbon wheels, shaft drives, belt drives, and the stifling design rules imposed by international bicycle racing organizations.

The book does not include rigorous mathematical analyses of the engineering problems involved; to get that perspective, see "Bicycling Science" by Whitt and Wilson. Burrows has the perspective of an inventor. The writing has a humorous tone and the diagrams are clear and amusing. I'd recommend the book to anyone who is interested in the technical aspects of human powered vehicles.

Rating:
Summary: Perspectives of an innovated designer
Review: Mike Burrows has been involved in innovative bicycle design for many years. This book reflects his interests in a diversity of human powered land vehicles, including road bikes, mountain bikes, city bikes, recumbents and tricycles.

The book covers some of the major problems of bicycle design, including aerodynamics, rolling resistance, and the strength and stiffness of materials used to make bike frames. The book is not a comprehensive, evenhanded guide to all of the issues involved. Instead, it gives the fresh perspective of an iconoclastic designer.

Burrows likes (for specific uses) disc wheels, monobladed "forks" (like Cannondale's Lefty shock), recumbents, non-standard frame geometry, disc brakes, hub brakes and composite construction. He refers to tires as "annular pneumatic suspension". He dislikes bogus "aerodynamic" frame tubes, bladed carbon wheels, shaft drives, belt drives, and the stifling design rules imposed by international bicycle racing organizations.

The book does not include rigorous mathematical analyses of the engineering problems involved; to get that perspective, see "Bicycling Science" by Whitt and Wilson. Burrows has the perspective of an inventor. The writing has a humorous tone and the diagrams are clear and amusing. I'd recommend the book to anyone who is interested in the technical aspects of human powered vehicles.